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Topic Review (Newest First)

01-02-2012 03:15 PM

ront

Interested

I have several types of fish that ur looking for and i don't have any kribs right now(atleast not Pulchers), feel free to call or stop in at Nebraska Aquatic supply 108 th & E..402-934-8206,ask for Ron.

12-28-2011 06:31 PM

Elliot

The fish store added a new tank to there selection. A 120 I think. I've gotten tired of asking questions from them to. I come here to ask then go to the fish store and see if they have what I want (most of the times it's fish). I've got TONS of idea's on how I'm going to revamp the fish store. First I'll have to get them to hire me, but I want to take that area where they have the freshwater tanks and turn it in to a really nice area with a bunch of REALLY nice display tanks. Then, take an inventory of all the fish and plants that are in the display tanks and keep a good sized stock of them in the basement. That way people can see the fish and plants in their full glory. They'll just have to say "hey I want that fish" and all I have to do is run down stairs and get "that fish" for them.
I also would start carrying Eheims and all those other filters that you guys use. Sadly, in order to keep the place open I would have to carry a good amount of very cheap stuff for the people that only want to keep a fish for a week or two, but if that is what it take to keep the nice stuff up and running that might change there minds then that is what I'll have to do.

I still am in favor of the fish store. They have a much larger selection of fish. You just have to make sure that they do not have that cursed ich! They also have a larger selection of plants. Fish World does not sell plants anymore. The one tank that does have plants has a label that reads "plants not for sale".

07-10-2011 02:54 AM

Hannothan

Quote:

Originally Posted by biebman

my thoughts:
Also wanted to see if anyone had been to fish freaks in Omaha? I haven't been there.

I have been there. While I was looking to stock a 125 gallon with cichlids, I figured a place that specializes in cichlids would be great.

Acquired 27... there were 4 survivors. Shortly after I got them home, they started to develop problems and subsequently started dropping like flies. Treatments with various antibiotics did nothing. I eventually hammered them with a cocktail of anti-parasite meds and managed to save the 4.

On the initial treatment with antibiotics, I did put in some mild parasite meds (malachite green, formalin) that did nothing.

Because of how nasty this illness was, I have concerns about their quarantine practices. The fish went from initial signs of infection to dead in about 3 days. As a result, I am very reluctant to go back.

On the bright side, I love the set up they have. Many exotic and rare african cichlids and they do an excellent job of lighting it just right to show off the colors of the fish. It's pretty much all african cichlids. I don't recall seeing any south american cichlids there. I don't even remember seeing an oscar.

They have an excellent selection and pretty knowledgeable staff.. but definitely quarantine any fish you get there for at least 3 weeks. The fish I acquired all came from the same tank and were going into the same aquarium with no other additions, so it was my QT tank... and I'm thankful it didn't spread to any of my other aquariums.

07-06-2011 04:15 PM

biebman

my email is nmb01525 (at) creighton (dot) edu

reply here or email if interested

07-06-2011 04:14 PM

biebman

Lincoln \ Omaha LFS.... Krib trade, anyone?

my thoughts:

The Fish Store (48 & o): knowledgable staff. Fish healthy enough but not great. Selection is OK, but they will order anything you want.

Fish World (Cotner & A): fish seem very healthy and alert, almost very hungry as they approach you as soon as they see you. selection is good, but it seems like they only stock a few of the more expensive cichlids.

my favorite is Pet World off 120 & Center in Omaha. great selection in good health, but the staff is not very knowledgeable.

Also wanted to see if anyone had been to fish freaks in Omaha? I haven't been there.

Finally - anyone near Lincoln or Omaha want a Kribensis trade? I have 6-8 kribensis in good health. 1/2 are bred and 1/2 were bought new. I am looking for healthy rainbows, giant danios, or possibly apistos or other dwarf cichlids.

06-10-2011 05:32 AM

Jdogg

I have been keeping planted fish tanks for about 10 years and have been to all of the aquarium and pet supply stores in Lincoln MANY times.

IMO the Fish Store would be a great store except for the fact that within the last 5 years or so the problem with ich has gotten unbareable. I have gotten fish from them about once a year and gotten ich from their fish every time I have gone there. The bigest up side to the fish store is that they can order rare fish and plants and you can pick them up before they introduce them into one of their tanks(avoiding their ich plague). And yes the owner still seems to be the only one who knows anything about the products and livestock in the store.

As for Fish World, I have only been there about 4 or 5 times in the past 3 years or so and found them to have very healthy fish but they are overpriced and the owner as well as the employees don,t seem to have much knowledge of plants what so ever.

Petsmart on 27th is great for all your common freshwater fish and most common freshwater plants. The staff seems fairly knowledgeable about most fish and plants they sell and for the most part their livestock is healthy. Although they do have an occasional outbreak of ich so look before you buy. They also rarely get in some not so common fish but they sell VERY fast so get there on Thursday. Thats when all their fish come in. I also know a couple employees that work there are members of this site. The downside, they cant order any special fish or plants so its wysiwyg.

Petco on "O" St. Their price is a little lower than Petsmart and their fish selection is a little better, but they don't have a great selection of plants and I have only found one knowledgeable employee in the whole store. His name is John and most of his knowledge lies in plants and lighting.
I have found many miss labeled plants, fish, and reptiles in their store. So my advice to you would be: If you shop there KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR

The Fish Store and Fish World are open from 10am to 8pm M-F
Petco and Petsmart are open from 9am to 9pm M-F and some hours on Sat. and Sun. too

These reviews are based on my own personal experience (my opinion) and well everybody has an opinion

01-26-2011 05:58 AM

Hannothan

Being from, and currently residing in Lincoln, I figure I'd chip in my two cents.

Fish store is ok. It really depends who's working at the time. Some of their staff knows a good deal, others, not so much. I went in asking if they had a glass CO2 diffuser, not thinking they did but it was worth a shot, and was met with blank stares. I had to actually describe it. He offered me a pack of bubble stones... They have decent plants, some unusual fish. They have a brackish tank that's neat. Their salt water selection is the best in town. One thing I will never forget about this place is once I went in and noticed their glow light and black neon tetras were covered in what can only be described as an major outbreak of ich. When I informed the staff, they seemed not to care.

Fish World is my favorite.. however, recently their selection has gone down hill. The owner is very knowledgeable about fish. Once I noticed they had a green mandarin dragonet. Really pretty. I asked about it for my salt water tank. First question was "What does it eat" His response "Not much of anything. That's the problem. Research the fish and come back. If you still want it, I'll sell it to you" I did just that and found out what it ate and realized I would need a couple of months at least to establish a food source for it. Not many salesmen will talk you out of a sale. Like the Fish Store, when I went in one time and noticed one of the tanks had ich, they started treating them right away and flipped the price signs on that tank to indicate they weren't for sale. As stated, the owner knows nothing of plants and has admitted to me he simply can't keep them alive. Their plant selection is terrible and over priced... however, the 11 dollar anubias I got from them three years ago is still going strong and now dominates almost half of the 55 gallon aquarium I put it in.

PetCo on O street... fish supplies is the only thing I buy there. Their fish always look bad. And typical of most big chains, they often sell terrestrial plants as aquarium plants.

PetCo on S 56th has MUCH better fish. The manager of the fish section knows a good deal and often gets in some more exotic fish. Their plant selection is better than the other PetCo. Looked all over town for a run of the mill amazon sword... this was the only place that had one that wasn't dead or dying.

PetSmart on N 27th.... Fish supplies only for me. Their fish always look sick and their tanks are often littered with dead fish. Their plant selection is ok, however most of them will need serious work to just keep them from dying. They do however carry more plant care products than PetCo. Fish Store still has them beat though.

PetSmart on Pine Lake Road is better. Their tanks generally look better, though the selection is small. Beware what you buy though... When looking at their Pacus (which I strongly disapprove any big chain from selling), I noticed one that looked just a little different... and had very sharp pointy teeth... not to mention several of them had noticeably chewed fins. Selection on supplies is about on par with other big chains.

Side note, parking at The Fish Store is awful. I think there's a total of 7 parking spaces. Parking at Fish World is great... just wish they had a better selection.

01-09-2011 03:31 AM

immune

IMO The fish Store is the best place in town to buy rare fish, monster fish, great looking, healthy fish that are fully grown or lovely large live plants for a very low prices. Also, great selection of chiclids

PetsMart on North 27th has a the best selection of plants with a fairly knowledgeable crew. When I bought my Baby O they were very quick to make sure that he would be properly housed. They do not have much of a selection when it comes to hard to find fish but if you are looking for something common this is a good place to go as the prices are lower than The Fish Store.

I have only been to Fish World once. They had a nice selection of beautiful full grown discus, healthy looking albino salamanders, and fairly pretty Koi there but the owner seemed know nothing of plants.

PetCo on O street is probably my least favorite place to purchase fish as the staff is fairly undereducated on both plants and fish. They is a large redheaded man who is most unpleasant...I believe he is the manager of the department. I stopped going when I decided to ask about the obviously undernourished Speckled Bichir that they were selling there housed with a bunch of chiclids. I asked about the poor little guy and they told me that the have had him for three months and feed the tanks flake exclusively....meaning that the fish was starving because they did not think about the fact that the speedy chiclids would eat up those flakes before they hit the substrate and even if they did not...flake is not suitable for the fish.

10-08-2010 08:22 PM

Elliot

My personal favorite is the Fish Store. I've never had a fish with ich from the fish store though. I agree that there are some people working there that don't really know what there doing, go to the some of the older people working there if you want better advice. And the other down side is the fish store does not carry driftwood. Fish World is just a little over priced but they carry driftwood.

09-26-2010 03:32 AM

monty67

Ok, just a follow up, i just visited the Fish Store today for root tabs and a heater. although the tanks all looked clean and most of the fish looked healthy there were a number of dead ones, about half a dozen just hanging out. I'd say no one bothered with checking or cleaning them out today or yesterday at least cause there was a 5 inch pleco that was obviously there in the open for a while covered in snails.

Also dealt with an underling and when i mentioned that my heater in my hospital tank was toast and would only run on the high setting putting the tank way over the temp, he actually asked if i had tried to adjust the temp! ummm yeah.

Then when i picked up some fert root tabs and asked him how long he felt they were good for (this is after i explained what i was looking for and that the person on the phone i talked to said the instructions said about 4 months) he said, "Umm you could just go by what the instructions say." hhmmmmm.

I've got a real problem when the sales person just assumes all the customers coming in are idiots. reasons like this while people will just go to the big box stores to save a little money, if they aren't going to get decent customer service anyways might as well save a few bucks. and there's a petco 4 blocks away!

09-23-2010 07:38 PM

monty67

been to all the places in lincoln. Unfortunately like anything, it always depends on who you deal with and what mood they are in. I've had great service from both these locations, and i've also called and hung up thinking these people didn't have a clue. Haven't been to fish world in a while, my brother was a big fan of theirs but last time i was at the fish store their fish were all reasonably priced but they are limited on selection of other items and sometimes i feel they way overcharging on these items. There is only one guy that i like to deal with their, dont' know if he is the owner or not, younger guy around 30 or so, but that dude was super helpful, knew his stuff, and was totally pleasant. I actually felt like he cared about his customers and the tanks.

Downside with Fish Store like others have mentioned, although their tanks usually look pretty nice (and i've never been in a fish store where at least one tank didn't have a sick fish in it) I think everytime i've bought fish from them i've gotten home, put them in the tank and a day later realized they had ich and the tank would have it a day later. here come the salt, the higher temps, and the frequent water changes. One of the main reasons i set up the 10 gallon observation/hospital tank.

But, i'd still rather try and figure out when the one guy i like is working and come in on those days then go to petco.

One a different note, there was another place around here like a big petco but a different name. went in there looking for lighting, bought a dual fixture 24", 48watt t5 ho light for 20 bucks cause someone had incorrectly tagged it from 124 dollars to 24. The register lady looked at me like i was trying to scamm them but it was their official bar code, i thought i was just getting a deal until i looked it up online and saw how much it really was. i think i paid more for the bulbs. I liked that store a lot for a while.

08-31-2010 05:32 PM

junglefever

I just found this old thread and I'd like to say I've been to both and they are both knowledgeable about fish and keep great stores. I keep a 36g bowfront planted and a
10g reef tank right now.

Fish World's stuff is pricier because its a small store with a small customer base sadly. But I would definitely goto them for a straight answer to your needs. Me and the owner had a debate over whether I had brought in a Green Terror Cichlid or a Blue Acara (the only superficial difference was a black spot), which eventually led to him pulling out a huge field guide book and determining the right one, what store owner would be that concerned? And he still remembers me and the exact fish I've sold him to this day.

Fish Store is another great store. I've been told a thing or two on the more "ideal" side by these guys but you can't blame them I mean its a store dedicated to fish, their profit margin is thin enough. They still know a bunch about fish and I still goto them for advice. They have a great saltwater section too.

I've never seen Ich in either stores and I know for a fact that Fish Store has a quarantine tank in their basement. I've also seen them using drip acclimation.

02-03-2007 06:16 AM

MadCatter

Okay.. well updating 2 years later (wow!), I am now anti Fish World because of the extremely overpriced fish, and the way I am am treated (or rather, not even talked to) every time I have walked into the store.

I'm still a Fish Store loyalist (but shhhh... I work at the PetCo on "O" st). They've hired a couple new people recently, but I find that there is always somebody who is pretty knowledgable about fish.

07-24-2006 07:50 PM

Jvalasek1

Wow, I know this is somewhat unrelated but I live in AZ now and remember goin to the fish store on 48th waaaaayyyy back. I'm talkin like 1993 or something. Good to know it's still open!!

10-04-2005 02:16 PM

malkore

Well I was in Fish Store this past weekend, and probably 20% of their FW tanks had ich, but the fish were still for sale. their marine fish often look starved, distressed, and there was a yellow tank with lesions around its face...again still up for sale.

The owner's the only one who really knows anything. I think he hired some friends, and their girlfriends to help run the place. If there's a girl working when you go there, don't even bother asking them ANY questions...not even "do you carry airline reducers?". That was a 10 minute ordeal until one of the guys came over and had a clue what I was talking about and grabbed them off a shelf under the counter, directly where she had been searching !

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